Dereliction Of Duty

So the Armadale Enquiry continues in earnest with testimonies of the awful conditions that these young ladies have had to endure at the hand of the state but much worst, how so many died without any reasonably just cause.

We have always known that something was terribly wrong with the penal system generally speaking but to hear the details of the absolute squalid conditions that the wards of the state had to live in is heartbreaking to say the very least. There is, in Jamaica a kind of disease that infects the brain when one is placed in a position of power, be it the police, the member of parliament, the customs officer or just the security guard at the gate. A diseased that renders the holder of the key kind of monster that has no reasoning, no sense of rationale, no sense of concern for others but is so blinded by the high that he/she become almost "goddish" in their attitude towards others. I am yet to figure out what exactly happens when we are given the slightest bit of authority, we take every opportunity to let all and sundry know that we are in charge and you better "recognise".

We see this diseased showing up clearly in this tragedy which occurred at Armadale on May 22, 2009. All the elements of vindictiveness, victimization, heavy handedness, power craze and incompetence at play in this situation. Remember that this tragedy did not happen on May 22, 2009 but merely came to light in a most unfortunate and tragic way. This was something waiting to happen, because who can blame these young people for trying to escape this absolute hell of a place, where human beings in the twenty first century are forced to filth in buckets and then live in the stench of theirs and twenty plus other peoples mess for hours every day. Forced to eat with their hands like cave men, locked up in a few square inches of space per person for weeks, punished like slaves, living in a bathroom having to bear the humiliation of your privacy constantly invaded with no say?
Imagine having to live through bathing with total strangers, sleeping in a room where persons are defecating, urinating and taking showers while you try to sleep, if sleeping is at all possible.

This "lock down" does not instill discipline, it does not correct behaviour neither does it serve any purpose in the long term rehabilitation of these young ladies, in fact it would seem to me that after living in these conditions one could only expect much more harm than good to be achieved here. If nothing else this is merely an ego trip gone wrong for those who were "in charge".
Major Richard Reese should consider this before he looks at the girls mental state or anything else for that matter, three words Major: (dereliction of duty).

My only hope is that at the end of this inquiry those who had direct and indirect responsibility for this abomination of a place are charged with criminal negligence at the very least. "By justice a king gives his nation stability" (proverbs) and there was no such justice at Armadale.

May God have mercy on us.